Broken
by lecarlator
Summary: When someone goes too far and hurts Moze, Ned is there for her. Rating will probably change.
1. Chapter 1

"Ned"

He stirred slowly. Opening his eyes and glancing around his room. He spotted a tall figure standing in front of his closed door, too tall to be his petite mother and too slender to be his robust father.

"Jen?" He asked, sitting up. He rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the darkness of his room. He glanced at the clock; it was just past midnight. He looked over at his best friend of twelve years, Moze. She inched closer to his bed and slowly sat down across from him.

Something was wrong. It was late, they had argued yesterday over something stupid, and he had called her 'Jen' in his sleepy reverie and she hadn't even yelled at him yet.

"What happened?" Ned asked slowly.

"I don't want to talk about it," she shivered. Ned noticed her t-shirt was torn down the side…and was that blood?

"Moze," He jumped up, but she recoiled backwards. His hands groped for the light switch on his wall, and all too quickly a blinding light filled the room.

She scrambled away from him and collapsed on his bed, quickly pulling her knees up to her chest. Her shirt was caked in blood and her left eye was turning a light shade of purple. She was missing a shoe and her hair was knotted and matted with sweat.

"Turn it off," she pressed her palms into her eyes, "please turn it off"

"Okay," Ned said, quickly bringing his room back into a state of darkness, "I should call your mom."

"No," she said, her voice quivering.

"My mom?" He asked.

"I just want to go to sleep," she began to cry, "I'll be okay in the morning."

"Okay," Ned said slowly, not sure if he was making the right decision.

"I need you to be with me," she said softly. Ned nodded in the darkness and slowly made his way over to her. He wrapped an arm around her waist like he used to do when she would spend the night in elementary school; when they had started middle school last year their sleepovers had dramatically decreased.

"I'm sorry," Moze muttered.

"For what?" Ned asked, his mind racing. But, she was already asleep.

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The morning came quickly for Ned. He had spent half of the night wondering what had happened to Moze before falling into a restless sleep. Had she been beaten up? Although, it was far more likely that she had beaten someone else up. But, she was a mess. A glance at her sleeping figure let him know that something bad had happened last night; something terrible by the looks of her black eye and her chin that quivered even as she slept.

Ned wondered if he should wake her or let her have a few more hours of tortured sleep. Tears were coming from the corners of her eyes and she was grapping his sheets like they were the only things keeping her rooted to the bed. "Wake up, Moze."

She flinched, opened her eyes, and in a second was across his room. Her back was pressed against his wall and her eyes searched around the room. She seemed to calm down when she realized where she was.

"What happened to you last night?" Ned asked, fearing it was something awful. He had no tips for rape or murder or hate crimes. He felt at a complete loss as for what to do.

"After volleyball, I r-ran into," she began, but before she got any further she had slumped down against the floor and was crying into her knees.

"Who did this to you?" Ned asked, glancing at his door. He knew his mom was downstairs somewhere and felt like this may be the kind of thing he should have an adult help with. Moze seemed like she was in an adult sort of trouble.

"I-I," she stuttered, looking around his room and then back down at herself. "I feel dirty."

"Do you want to go home and change?" Ned asked, "or shower?"

"I don't want to go home yet." She shook her head. She continued to stare down at her shirt, disgusted by the blood and smeared dirt from the road by the bus stop a few blocks from the school.

"Lets get you to my shower." Ned decided. Moze nodded, and lifted her shirt slowly over her head. She threw it as far from her as she could as if even the sight of it made her sick.

Ned tried not to stare at her obviously vulnerable form sitting on his floor in just a bra and jeans. She must have lost her single shoe sometime well she was sleeping.

He stood up and offered her his hand. She took it reluctantly and pulled herself up. Ned pushed open the door of the bathroom that was adjoined to his room and began to run a bath for her. He didn't really know what to do, but he knew she felt dirty and girls liked baths, didn't they? He tried to calm the tide of bile that seemed to want to make its way up his throat.

Moze sat on the lid of his toilet seat and pealed off her socks.

"Could you stay with me, please?" She asked, not able to look at him directly.

"Whatever you want." Ned said, also trying not to watch her. A pair of jeans landed by his feat followed by his friend's underwear and a training bra.

He heard a splash of water and looked up to see Moze sitting in his bathtub hugging her knees. The water quickly turned a grimy brown color and the dried blood began to seep off her creating pink swirls.

"Did he" Ned hesitated not really sure if there was a better way to phrase what he had to ask, "rape you?"

Moze took a shaky breath and nodded without looking at him.

"We need to call the cops, Jen." Nate began to panic. How could someone do this to his best friend? They were only kids.

Ned grabbed a washcloth from his counter to help her clean up. "Did you know him?" Ned asked, reaching out a hand to rub the washcloth against her scraped up arm.

She nodded again without taking her eyes off her knees.

"Who was it?" Ned asked, not being able to fathom anyone they knew doing something so awful to someone so nice.

She began to cry and slowly turned her head towards him. She looked so hurt, so broken. "You can't tell anyone."

"Jen," Ned answered softly.

"You have to promise," she said, her lips quivering.

"I promise," Ned sighed.

"It was Billy Loomer," Moze sobbed. She brought her head under the water and rubbed at her face. She brought it up a moment later and stared down at the water her body had turned brown. She still felt filthy.

"I'm done," she said, standing up with tears still pouring down her face.

Ned got up quickly, grapping for a towel. This was not how he'd pictured seeing a girl naked for the first time, and he was too stunned over her confession to think of anything other than what he wanted to do to Loomer.

"You can't tell anyone," Moze repeated, wrapping herself in Ned's towel.

"We have to, Jen." Ned spoke after too long of a silence for his own comfort.

"No," she snapped, "and stop calling me Jen." She turned and left his bathroom. Ned followed her, and watched her climb back into his bed.

"What do you need?" he asked, not quite sure of how to act.

"I need it all to stop," she said, wrapping her arms around her head, "everything hurts."


	2. Chapter 2

Ned paced his rooms, never had he felt so constricted in his own room. But, today, the walls seemed to be closing in on him. His room felt smaller and smaller as if the walls would implode leaving him in the hallway all too close to his parent's room. All his mind kept repeating was 'tell mom, get mom'. He knew she could help, but he also knew Moze didn't want his mom's help. It had only been one night though, she'd have to go home soon and he hoped she'd tell her parents. Her dad would probably kill Loomer. Her dad was a really big guy. He looked tough, but Ned had never seen him yell or anything.

"I think Bluebell finally likes me,"

Ned turned around to see Moze playing with his cat. The little guy had always hated her. It probably stemmed from how they used to try to put her in human clothes when they were younger. They thought they could teach the cat to act human after one too many episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Ned finally decided to just sit down on the end of his bed. He was going to wear a hole in his shoes if he paced any further. He watched Jen play with Bluebell. The way she rubbed his back and then he'd lift his tail while she petted it. Somewhere along the past few years she'd grown gentle. Something Ned felt like he had never really realized. Too much had changed in their relationship in the past year or two, but oddly enough being locked in a room with her felt normal. Like how they'd go to each others houses every day after school when they were kids and just play for hours until dinner.

Bluebell began to get antsy and jumped off the bed. "I guess he's bored," Ned sighed, as he watched the cat try to nudge the door open. Ned got up and let him out, "or maybe he wants lunch" Ned noticed the clock. It was just past noon.

"Whatever," Jen mumbled, lying back on the bed.

"It's pouring outside," Ned noticed, staring out the grey window. He hadn't noticed the time because it kind of seemed like the sun hadn't bothered coming out today.

"How appropriate," Jen muttered, turning on her side and curling into a ball.

"Are you cold?" Ned asked.

"I'm fine," she yawned.

"Don't go back to sleep on me. How about lunch?" He asked.

"I'm not really hungry," she shrugged.

"Do you want to go see if your parents are home? You could probably use a Doctor, Jen." Ned tried.

"They do Sunday brunch with my grandma. They wont be home for another hour." Moze answered.

"Well, do you want me to go bring you your own clothes?" Ned offered.

"Yea, maybe," Moze rolled onto her back.

"Is that a yes?" Ned asked, rolling his eyes. Girls..

"Yes, please." She nodded, curling back into a ball.

"I'll be back in a minute," Ned smiled, finally something he could actually do. He wondered if he should ask her what she specifically wanted, but he figured she'd just say 'whatever'. So, he tied his shoes in silence. Moze was normally super talkative, but Loomer had changed her last night. She wasn't playful Moze, she was a broken Jen, and Ned didn't like that. He needed to make things right.

"I'll be back in a minute," Ned said, closing the door behind him. He rushed down the stairs, hoping to avoid his parents. Crossing by the kitchen he peaked into the living room, thankfully they were watching TV together. He continued his sprint down the hallway and outside. Quickly he went next door, through the back gate, and in through the patio door. The Moselys always left the backdoor open during the day for him and Jen to go in and out through, Cookie too if he came over. The thought made Ned wonder briefly if he should call Cookie, but it didn't really seem like the time. This was not a situation that Cookie could high tech them out of.

Entering the house, Ned quickly went towards Jen's room. In twelve years, the Moselys hadn't missed a Sunday brunch, but he was still nervous about running into them and having to lie about what happened to their daughter.

Moze's room always made him smile. It was so girly. She had light pink walls and a white flowered bed with her stupid dog bear stuffed animal thing smiling up at him. Ned quickly grabbed one of her bags from the closet and stuffed in a pair of jeans and a pair of track pants in case she didn't feel like wearing jeans. He put the bag down on her bed, and went through the drawers for a shirt.

He smirked at all the old shirts that she no longer wore. She seemed to have recently traded in her tee shirts with smiling animals for tank tops and button downs. Not that he minded or anything, but he found looking at the old clothes kind of funny. Kind of like when he'd come across a pair of superman tidy whities among his boxers.

He grabbed a plain white shirt, figuring it would be simple enough, and tossed it into the bag. He looked around wondering what he'd missed before realizing that she probably would prefer to wear her own underwear over his and he guessed that she probably wore that bra thing full time now. He remembered how pissed she was when her mom bought it for her.

He quickly opened her top drawer and found socks. He grabbed some of those and put them in the bag. It was cold after all, and she might need a pair of shoes. He opened the second drawer and found neatly folded rows of matching underwear and bras. He hesitated a minute before pulling out a set and tossing them into his bag before he started thinking of Moze in ways that he knew he shouldn't be. He'd had a dream or two about her in the past, but he liked their relationship platonic.

Finally, he grabbed a pair of tennis shoes and zipped up the bag before racing out of the house ignoring the cracks of thunder around him. He ran through the rain and stopped in front of his own door to wipe the mud from his shoes. It really was pouring out. Between his house and Jen's he'd managed to get completely soaking wet. He would blow dry his hair if Moze wasn't over to make fun of him.

Deciding to just leave his shoes by the door, Ned raced back into his own room.

"Ned, do you want lunch?"

Crap, "No mom" he yelled back.

"Is Jennifer here, I can make you two sandwiches?" she asked. Ned thought about it for a second. That might actually be great. His mom was great.

"Peanut butter no jelly for me, grape for Moze?" He asked.

"Of course," she laughed.

"Thanks mom," Ned yelled before resuming his sprint through his room. He now had to get into dry clothes and get back downstairs to intercept the sandwiches from his mom before she came up to his room.

"Here, I didn't know what you wanted. I hope this is okay," Ned said, tossing the bag on the bed.

"Thanks," Moze said, rubbing her eyes. She winced not remembering the state of the left one, "Looks like you need to change too now."

"Yep," Ned nodded pulling a pair of basketball shorts from his closet and a shirt. He then went through his dresser for a dry pair of boxers and brought the clothes into his bathroom. He changed in record time and burst out of the bathroom to head downstairs. This was getting tiring.

"Sorry," He mumbled forgetting that Jen was there.

"It's fine," she said. She was dressed but she had flinched at the sound of the door flying open.

"I'm going to get us sandwiches," Ned explained before exiting his room again. Moze nodded. Ned nearly tripped as he raced down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"You must be hungry," his mom noted.

"Starved," He nodded, grabbing two bottles of water from the fridge. He mom handed him the plate and he kissed her cheek, "you're the best."

"Tell Jennifer we say hi," His mom nodded back. Ned nodded before heading back upstairs.

He knocked on the door before entering. "You can come in," Moze answered. Ned opened the door. She was dressed in jeans and was putting his sweatshirt back over her own shirt.

"My mom made us lunch," Ned said, placing the plated on his desk and tossing Moze a water bottle.

"I really don't want to eat right now," Moze shook her head.

"You have to eat," Ned said, knowing this couldn't be good.

"I just feel ill," she shivered, not leaving his bed. Ned picked up her sandwich and handed it to her. She reluctantly took it and stared down at it for a moment before taking a small bite.

Ned smiled and picked up his own sandwich. He had finished it before Moze had taken a second bite, "I'll finish this later,"

"Fine," Ned conceded taking the sandwich from her and putting it back on the plate. When he turned around Moze was curled into a ball and half asleep.

"Well, good night, I guess," Ned shrugged, turning off the lights for her. He doubted she could sleep this off, but whatever she wanted to do he would let her.


End file.
